Holiday Dinner

.....Every December, on the first Friday night, We entertain the anesthetists that I work with in the region as a thank-you for their good work. Good anesthesia makes the surgeon's work easier and safer, keeping him out of the clutches of the malpractice lawyers. We have done over 20 of these dinners, and it drives Wendy to distraction.

We were in Belize until 72 hours before the dinner, making it worse this year than ever. Planning started in September. Two rooms got new paint, and other baseline décor changes were made. The tree went up about Nov 15 (it's artificial, thank God) This table was set on Wednesday..........

special tables for the bar and hors dourves (sp?) are set up in the background..........

...this is Friday morning, the calm before the storm. Wendy is an obsessive-compulsive accountant. Every step is planned out in advance. She was tossing and turning in Belize at night with recipes going through her head. D-Day (June 6, 1944) was not as well planned as this!.......

......the papers taped to the cupboards in the last pictures were recipes and the kitchen schedule. The recipes are gleaned off the Internet and carefully screened. This year's theme is "Taste of Wisconsin" This lucky recipe winner is for walnut encrusted fillet of Walleyed Pike. Jake caught the fish...........

....this beauty is for cranberry glazed breast of chicken. Wisconsin is second only to Maine in cranberries ......

.......this is the all-important kitchen schedule. We thought about having it catered, but the caterer would undoubtedly not follow the schedule, get in the way or underfoot, and then Wendy would have to kill him. No caterer.....

this little blow-up of the schedule is funny. I thought the "nap" was my part, where we go to bed and I take her mind off the hectic schedule and distract her as a calming technique with my sexual prowess. Nope. She wanted to sleep for a while! Damn!!.........

....Wisconsin=Cheese and she took almost two hours cutting and arranging the 10 varieties of cheeses. Each had to be labeled with little signs. Our Dad would have been so proud!!.........

.......three Wisconsin wineries, from Door County, Sauk Prairie, and St.Croix Falls were represented with 5 different wines........

..this in addition to a full bar..........

...........finally, it's all ready with even a fire in the fireplace (Hans WAS responsible for something).......

.....light the last of about 25 candles quick! The doorbell is ringing!! Good job! A great time was had by all. I didn't take any pictures at the party, people don't appreciate finding themselves on the internet......

Hans